"For Arton to make Conis this strong in such a short time…"
"What exactly did he do?"
"…Forget it. That's not something I should be digging into."
Gan Fall shook his head and muttered to himself.
Arton had just solved Skypiea's biggest problem for them. Gan Fall had no desire to pry into someone else's secrets unless Arton chose to tell him himself, and as for that possibility… Gan Fall thought it was very, very low.
He looked past Raki again. Seeing that she was also on Arton's ship now, and seemed fairly close to him, Gan Fall couldn't help thinking that maybe, someday, Raki would receive some kind of power from Arton too, just like Conis had.
On that point, Gan Fall's guess was dead on.
As time went on, Arton would only get more and more templates in his hands, and among them, there would eventually be some that suited Raki.
Of course, whether the template Raki ended up getting would be as strong as Conis's would depend on her own luck.
"Congratulations, Conis. You beat Enel."
"Just like I expected from someone I had high hopes for."
Arton patted Conis on the shoulder and smiled.
Because she was currently in her 100% template activation state, Conis no longer had the little wings unique to the people of Skypiea.
That gave her a beautiful, almost alarmingly striking kind of charm, and Arton liked this version of Conis very much too.
"If you hadn't helped me, Arton, there's no way I could've beaten him that easily."
Conis looked at him gratefully.
She knew very well that if Arton hadn't rattled Enel with those two Haki-infused hits, she never would've won so cleanly on her own.
Even after entering full template activation, she could clearly feel her stamina draining at a terrifying rate.
If Enel hadn't lost his composure, then even in this state, she might have ended up stuck in a drawn-out fight until she dropped out of it, and if that had happened, she might have been the one who lost.
Of course, Conis knew Arton never would've stood by and watched her truly lose to Enel, but if possible, she still wanted to be the one to defeat Enel herself.
"Captain Arton, please let me drop out of this state for now."
"It's seriously exhausting."
Conis said it with a tired little breath.
"No rush. Let me check out your stockings first."
"We might need to use them as a reference to make some new pairs later."
As Nami's voice rang out, she darted over to Conis in a single step.
Before Conis could even react, Nami had already started running her hands over the stockings on her legs.
"M-Miss Nami!"
Nami's sudden appearance startled Conis so badly she almost dropped out of full activation on the spot.
"Nami's right. They'd make a perfect reference."
"And you finally managed to bring out this state."
"Don't you want Captain Arton to touch them too?"
Raki walked up beside them, pointed at Conis's stockings, and smiled.
The moment she heard that, Conis's whole face flushed red, but when she thought about how much Captain Arton had helped her… and about the quiet lewd thoughts she'd been having herself…
Raki's suggestion stirred something in her.
"This… um…"
Conis looked at Arton shyly and asked, "Captain Arton… do you… want to touch them?"
After all, the person standing in front of her was Arton, and if Arton wanted to, Conis was more than willing to indulge him.
Chapter 605: There Really Are a Lot of Surprising Things About People from the Blue Sea
"Do I look like that kind of easy man to you?"
Arton puffed out his chest and put on the air of a perfect gentleman, but the very next moment, he grinned and swept Conis up in a bridal carry.
One hand supported her back, while the other kept running up and down her black stockings, savoring just how smooth the Belobog fabric felt.
Nami shot Arton a quick complaint, then immediately joined in too.
That scene left Wyper and Gan Fall rooted to the spot, not even daring to get any closer.
It also left Conis blushing furiously.
Still, seeing how happy Arton looked made her happy too.
There was no question about it—Conis's stockings felt good enough that Arton was thoroughly enjoying himself, but even while enjoying it, Arton didn't forget the serious business that still needed doing.
"Nojiko, before this guy dies, pull out his Devil Fruit. If he dies first, the fruit will escape from his body."
Even if the Rumble-Rumble Fruit wasn't especially useful to him now, it was still a Logia.
Whether he kept it as a collectible or sold it, it still had plenty of value.
There was no way Arton was just going to sit there and let the fruit inside Enel get away.
If it escaped, who knew whose hands it might end up in?
If it fell into the Marines' hands and created another powerhouse, that would be bad enough.
If it ended up with the World Government, that would be even worse.
Arton believed his side would keep getting better templates, sure—but that didn't mean he was willing to let the enemy get strong powers too.
If possible, he wanted the other side to gain nothing at all.
That was the best kind of enemy.
"Right, Nojiko, hurry up and do it. A Logia fruit is insanely valuable." Nami nodded repeatedly at Nojiko, her eyes already turned into Beli signs. "And this is the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, one of the top ones."
"Don't worry, Arton. Nami too."
"I was already prepared."
Nojiko smiled and nodded to both of them, then walked over to the fallen Enel.
She reached out and placed her hand on him.
Then she slowly closed her eyes, as if she were sensing something.
"What is she doing?"
Wyper had been hesitating over whether this was a good time to go talk to Arton, but the moment he saw Nojiko's actions, he turned to Gan Fall in confusion.
"Can't hear clearly. Can't see clearly either."
"But whatever they're doing, we don't need to interfere."
Gan Fall spoke casually.
As long as they weren't planning to do anything evil to Skypiea, that was enough for him.
As for everything else, Gan Fall couldn't be bothered.
The truth was, he knew perfectly well that he didn't have the power to interfere anyway.
Even so, when he saw Nojiko's body change into the form of a thunder demon, he was still deeply shocked.
"That lady… did she just pull Enel's lightning power out of him?"
Gan Fall asked Wyper in astonishment.
"I thought you didn't care about any of this."
Wyper threw out the line like a jab, but deep down, he was just as stunned by Nojiko's transformation.
"There really are a lot of surprising things about this group."
Wyper let out a quiet sigh of amazement.
"Yeah," Gan Fall said with a nod. "There really are."
...
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]